FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?MC: We wanted to create a new way for people to experience their premium drinking moments. All too often sub standard bottle openers are used distracting from what should be a moment to cherish. The Tactica One was designed to reconnect users with the their premium experience from the moment they pick it up.

FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?MC: The aim was to create a precision tool that merged technology and design. The design had to be unique in appearance whilst delivering functional performance time and time again. Ultimately it needed to perfectly marry with the premium drinking experience.

FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?MC: Currently the Tactica One is aimed at release through a variety of premium design outlets worldwide. In addition due to the ability to do in mold branding we are also focusing on select partnerships with premium corporate brands.

FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?MC: The design development process took approximately 6 months from the initial idea through to production tooling.

FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?MC: The development was self initiated and formed the basis of our brand Tactica. This concept was pursued as we wanted it to embody our brand and demonstrate how technology, materials and design merge.

FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?MC: The Tactica One is currently being manufactured for distribution by our company.

FS: What made you design this particular type of work?MC: Tactica is about creating unique solutions for your everyday carry. We focused on creating a new type of bottle opener as we found that often people used sub standard methods to open their premium drinks. We knew there was a better way, a way that didn't come with a hefty pricetag.

FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?MC: Yes it was a team effort. The other designers involved were:
Richard Benson
Tom Burford-Orr
Astrid Bonfante

FS: Who is the target customer for his design?MC: Our target customers are consumers of premium beers, ciders or waters

FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?MC: The Tactica One is the first of its type in the world. Its unique suspended design pushes materials and design to the limits to achieve a performance that's unexpected.

FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?MC: Tactica One is named as it is intended to be the only precision tool you'll ever need to open your premium beverages

FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?MC: We used a combination of design research methodologies as well as technical tools such as solidworks in 3D modelling.

FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?MC: Being able to create the cantilevered design which no other composite bottle opener has done before.

FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?MC: Our entire team collaborated to create the Tactica One. They included Richard Benson, Tom Burford-Orr and Astrid Bonfante

FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?MC: We pushed the limits of the material technology to achieve a design that is entirely unique whilst delivering functional performance in a premium package.

FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?MC: We undertook substantial research in the premium beverage market to uncover a number of key findings about the market and the consumers. This information helped inform the design to ensure that it embodied the same premium qualities consumers seek in their beverages.

FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?MC: Finding the right balance between the design and material technology was the most challenging. Through extensive prototyping we were ultimately able to come up with a design that delivered functionally as well as aesthetically.

FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?MC: We were really excited about our approach and design outcome and wanted to take the opportunity to put it out there. As were were winners for another design in last years competition we felt it was a natural fit to do it again this year.

FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?MC: We found that no matter what the challenges that we faced we knew that we would be able to find a way.

FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.

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